Ashes Are Not Garbage!

Once in a while a story comes along about an old couple misremembering the laws of our country, which usually leads to a funny story about the foolish things that they did like run a barricade or walked outside in the nude, but this story is almost the polar opposite. Here once again we see the ever present struggle between the citizens of Detroit and the government of Detroit. Although this situation is not comparable to the impact of Kwame's incident, it adds an example of the skewed views present in Detroit. This purpose is easily noticeable through Stephen Henderson's use of diction. Using descriptive words such as "burned-out houses and the waste-high garbage piles" and " isolated incident, perpetrated by an over-eager pencil-pusher... terribly misplaced priorities, awful service delivery, and rampant dysfunction," Henderson can easily create a sarcastic tone. In turn the sarcasm shows the reader how foolish the government of Detroit can be for harassing this couple instead of fixing the broken burned-out houses only a block away. Thus, Henderson's purpose can be easily seen and realized through his use diction to create his tone and establish a stereotype for all government people caused by their own stupidity.

The Failing Defense of A Crumbling City

The past week I have been asked to peruse Darnell Gardner Jr's article, in the Detroit Free Press, on his views concerning the City of Detroit. I've been asked multiple times to describe tone and style and purpose and any other subject concerning the quality writing of his article. My copy has become marred by triangles and circles, underlines and notes, and any other grammar mark I could think of, but this recent assignment has brought me to a different realization of the article. When asked to describe the essay's effectiveness without using pathos, ethos, or logos, I was almost at a loss for description. Then it hit me that the mere basis of his paper is the most effective part. The way Gardner crafted the purpose of the essay is the reason his essay is so well written. Gardner crafts a purpose and situation that was hidden as an underlying cause of destruction in the back of his reader's minds. The fact that he does not put all the blame on Detroit, but instead points out the fact that Detroit has been this way for years and will continue this way unless the people realize what how they themselves are destroying it from the inside. Therefore Gardner's essay strives because of his contrasting view on why the city is crumbling. By going against what everyone has thought Gardner has made them see that Kwame is not the only cause of this destruction. Hopefully, the city can realize that everyone is at fault for what is happening and they cannot throw all of the blame on Kwame, but until then it may be a good idea for anybody in any English course to examine Gardner's article because much can be learned from all the devices he uses.